Political Media Habits Across Millennials, Gen Xers and Baby Boomers

Where do Millennials, Gen Xers and Baby Boomers get their news about politics and government? How do media habits differ across these three generations? A Pew Research Center study explores which sources they are familiar with, turn to, trust and distrust.

Panelists were asked whether they have heard of the 36 political sources for news about government and politics. The sortable table below shows the share of online adults in each generation who have heard of each of the sources in the study.

Awareness of News Sources

% of respondents who have heard of each source

Source

Millennial

Generation X

Baby Boomer

ABC News

92%

96%

95%

Al Jazeera America

32%

46%

50%

BBC

74%

79%

76%

Bloomberg

45%

70%

67%

Breitbart

8%

17%

19%

BuzzFeed

40%

32%

26%

CBS News

90%

95%

95%

CNN

95%

95%

95%

Colbert Report

62%

67%

59%

Daily Kos

8%

16%

15%

Daily Show

69%

70%

58%

Drudge Report

22%

40%

39%

Economist

32%

38%

35%

Ed Schultz Show

11%

14%

19%

Fox News

92%

94%

93%

Glenn Beck Program

34%

53%

58%

Google News

78%

72%

66%

Guardian

33%

37%

38%

Huffington Post

62%

70%

66%

MSNBC

86%

91%

92%

Mother Jones

11%

22%

31%

NBC News

92%

95%

95%

NPR

45%

57%

56%

New York Times

82%

89%

83%

New Yorker

59%

69%

68%

PBS

85%

92%

88%

Politico

20%

37%

38%

Rush Limbaugh Show

47%

75%

76%

Sean Hannity Show

30%

50%

53%

Slate

16%

25%

23%

TheBlaze

12%

21%

22%

ThinkProgress

10%

10%

7%

USA Today

84%

94%

92%

Wall Street Journal

73%

88%

85%

Washington Post

72%

84%

83%

Yahoo News

85%

83%

77%

Panelists were asked whether, over the course of the previous week, they got news about government and politics from each of the 42 sources (the same 36 sources asked about for awareness and trust, as well as local television and five social networking sites). The sortable table below shows where online Millennials, Gen Xers and Baby Boomers turn to for political and government news.

Consumption of News Sources

% of respondents who got news about politics and government in the previous week from each source

Source

Millennial

Generation X

Baby Boomer

ABC News

32%

32%

44%

Al Jazeera America

4%

4%

5%

BBC

16%

16%

18%

Bloomberg

3%

4%

6%

Breitbart

1%

3%

4%

BuzzFeed

8%

2%

3%

CBS News

19%

27%

39%

CNN

44%

45%

43%

Colbert Report

15%

8%

7%

Daily Kos

1%

2%

3%

Daily Show

16%

10%

10%

Drudge Report

2%

5%

6%

Economist

4%

3%

4%

Ed Schultz Show

*

1%

3%

Facebook

61%

51%

39%

Fox News

30%

36%

47%

Glenn Beck Program

2%

7%

9%

Google News

33%

18%

15%

Google Plus

7%

6%

4%

Guardian

4%

4%

3%

Huffington Post

12%

16%

13%

LinkedIn

2%

3%

4%

Local TV News

37%

46%

60%

MSNBC

22%

27%

33%

Mother Jones

2%

1%

3%

NBC News

27%

35%

47%

NPR

18%

21%

22%

New York Times

17%

9%

12%

New Yorker

3%

2%

4%

PBS

9%

12%

26%

Politico

3%

4%

5%

Rush Limbaugh Show

3%

7%

12%

Sean Hannity Show

3%

8%

13%

Slate

2%

3%

3%

TheBlaze

2%

7%

7%

ThinkProgress

1%

1%

1%

Twitter

14%

9%

5%

USA Today

10%

11%

14%

Wall Street Journal

9%

9%

12%

Washington Post

8%

7%

8%

Yahoo News

27%

25%

21%

YouTube

23%

11%

10%

Panelists were asked whether they trust the 36 sources for news about government and politics. The sortable table below shows the share of online adults in each generation who trust each of the sources in the study.

Trust of News Sources

% of respondents saying they trust each source

Source

Millennial

Generation X

Baby Boomer

ABC News

48%

53%

53%

Al Jazeera America

10%

8%

8%

BBC

37%

36%

35%

Bloomberg

9%

11%

13%

Breitbart

1%

4%

7%

BuzzFeed

4%

1%

2%

CBS News

41%

48%

50%

CNN

60%

55%

50%

Colbert Report

22%

13%

12%

Daily Kos

1%

2%

3%

Daily Show

23%

15%

13%

Drudge Report

4%

7%

11%

Economist

14%

11%

11%

Ed Schultz Show

1%

2%

5%

Fox News

35%

44%

51%

Glenn Beck Program

3%

11%

16%

Google News

38%

20%

17%

Guardian

8%

6%

7%

Huffington Post

20%

19%

15%

MSNBC

37%

41%

39%

Mother Jones

3%

5%

8%

NBC News

47%

51%

53%

NPR

28%

30%

29%

New York Times

41%

31%

28%

New Yorker

15%

13%

15%

PBS

34%

37%

42%

Politico

7%

6%

7%

Rush Limbaugh Show

4%

12%

18%

Sean Hannity Show

3%

12%

18%

Slate

3%

4%

4%

TheBlaze

2%

7%

9%

ThinkProgress

3%

2%

2%

USA Today

33%

33%

35%

Wall Street Journal

28%

31%

34%

Washington Post

25%

30%

27%

Yahoo News

25%

19%

17%

Panelists were asked whether they distrust the 36 sources for news about government and politics. The sortable table below shows the share of online adults in each generation who distrust each of the sources in the study.

Distrust of News Sources

% of respondents saying they distrust each source

Source

Millennial

Generation X

Baby Boomer

ABC News

14%

13%

19%

Al Jazeera America

6%

17%

22%

BBC

9%

7%

6%

Bloomberg

6%

8%

9%

Breitbart

3%

5%

4%

BuzzFeed

14%

7%

4%

CBS News

13%

15%

20%

CNN

16%

17%

25%

Colbert Report

14%

19%

15%

Daily Kos

2%

4%

4%

Daily Show

16%

21%

18%

Drudge Report

7%

11%

9%

Economist

2%

3%

2%

Ed Schultz Show

3%

6%

7%

Fox News

43%

37%

32%

Glenn Beck Program

21%

27%

26%

Google News

13%

11%

9%

Guardian

5%

4%

4%

Huffington Post

14%

19%

19%

MSNBC

15%

23%

26%

Mother Jones

2%

5%

7%

NBC News

15%

17%

22%

NPR

4%

11%

12%

New York Times

11%

16%

20%

New Yorker

9%

10%

12%

PBS

12%

10%

14%

Politico

2%

6%

9%

Rush Limbaugh Show

32%

43%

42%

Sean Hannity Show

17%

23%

23%

Slate

2%

3%

4%

TheBlaze

3%

3%

3%

ThinkProgress

2%

3%

2%

USA Today

9%

15%

13%

Wall Street Journal

7%

11%

11%

Washington Post

9%

13%

18%

Yahoo News

19%

16%

14%

Source: American Trends Panel (wave 1). Survey conducted March 19-April 29, 2014. Based on online adults. See Methodology for sample sizes of each generation. Panelists were asked about their awareness, use and trust of 36 news sources and were also asked about use (but not awareness or trust) of local television news and five social networking sites; see the Get News From tab to see the levels of usage for local television news and the five social networking sites.) Due to the reliance on web respondents, this report focuses on three generations – Millennial, Generation X and Baby Boomer. The Silent generation (aged 69 and older at the time of the survey) is not included in the analysis because of the disproportionately large segment that is not online.

About Pew Research Center Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world. It conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, media content analysis and other empirical social science research. Pew Research Center does not take policy positions. It is a subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts.